


You Seem Like You Know Your Way Around a Turkey

by YouCanJive



Series: Time is the Longest Distance (Between Two Places) [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Friendship, Gen, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCanJive/pseuds/YouCanJive
Summary: Tony wouldn't have minded working straight through Thanksgiving. But this was nice, too.





	You Seem Like You Know Your Way Around a Turkey

U’s plaintive whirring drew Tony’s attention from the 3D rendering he’d been staring at for the past half hour.

He was startled to find Happy in the workshop.

A quick look revealed that he must have tripped over the pyramid of empty coffee cups U had apparently been constructing near the door while Tony was otherwise occupied.

Tony couldn’t quite tell whether it had been on his way into the workshop or out of it, but he really hoped it was the former. It was embarrassing to know Happy had snuck up on him, but it would be infinitely worse if he’d been there long enough to give up on getting Tony’s attention and had started to leave.

“Sorry, Boss,” Happy said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No worries. U’s probably delighted to get to build his tower all over again,” Tony responded, making a mental note to acquire a giant Jenga game for Dum-E and U. “What’s up?”

“Oh!” Happy straightened, reminded of his original purpose. “Miss Potts needed you to sign some forms. Apparently they’re urgent, so I promised I’d get your signature then scan them to her.”

Familiar with Tony’s quirks, Happy didn’t try to hand the small bundle of forms to Tony, but rather placed them on the table before him.

“Hmm…” Tony stood up and walked over, glancing quickly at the forms then back at Happy, now with his eyebrows slightly furrowed and a slightly calculating look on his face.

The forms were neither urgent nor especially significant. Pepper could have signed them herself, really. And if Tony could figure that out, Pepper doubtlessly knew it, too.

Which told Tony that Pepper – who had gone to her parents’ home for Thanksgiving – wanted to check in on Tony but didn’t want to be obvious about it.

Pepper didn’t know the details, but she knew this was only Tony’s second Thanksgiving alone.

He’d always gone to Peggy’s before, but now… Well, now he was alone.

(Darcy had invited him to her grandpa’s, but Tony couldn’t bear the thought of being so close to where he’d celebrated so many Thanksgivings with Aunt Peg while knowing that she likely wouldn’t remember any of them.)

Pepper’s choice to send Happy was clearly a calculated one; he was alone for Thanksgiving, too. Sending him to ‘get Tony’s signature’ killed two birds with one stone, making sure Tony left the workshop at some point during the long weekend and ensuring Happy would have some sort of company over the holiday.

Tony would have probably played it the exact same way. If he were the type of person to look out for others like that, of course. Which he most certainly was not.

( _Why do you do that?_ Darcy’s voice asked in the back of his mind. _Doing all these nice things then pretending you didn’t, or that you had some selfish reason for it?_ )

“No need for you to scan them, Happy,” Tony assured him, reaching for a pen and signing where indicated with a flourish, then placing the forms on one of the flat surfaces near his table. Almost instantly, digital versions of each of them appeared on one of the holographic screens. “Send all that to Miss Potts, J. Then shut down it all down for the day.”

He turned back to Happy, who’d been watching silently but curiously, and brought his hands together with a clap. “While I have you here, though, I could use your help with something.”

“Anything, Boss,” Happy responded, ready to help as always. Tony fought off a smile, giving him a smirk in its place.

“I’m fairly sure Pepper left the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner up in my kitchen, but I don’t have the slightest idea how to go about making one.” ( _Liar_ , Darcy’s voice pitched in again. _Liar, liar, pants on fire!_ ) “I figure, between the two of us, we can probably figure something out, right? You seem like you know your way around a turkey.”

“Uhhh…” Happy looked uncertain, “Sure?”

“Excellent. Let’s get to it, then,” Tony said, and Happy was already holding the door open for him before he’d even finished getting the words out.

Why Happy had suggested they watch a movie about cooking when they were both stuffed, Tony would never know. (Though the little rat was kinda cute.)

In any case, he’d fallen asleep halfway through the movie, giving in to the food coma that had been threatening both him and Tony since they’d finished the surprisingly large meal they’d been able to throw together from the contents of Tony’s fridge and pantry.

When JARVIS quietly pinged Tony and informed him that Miss Lewis was on the line, Tony looked over Happy one last time, to make sure he was well and truly settled, then went into the next room to talk with Darcy without waking him up.

“Hey, kid,” he greeted, perhaps more quietly than usual. “Has your grandpa told you all about the first Thanksgiving yet?”

**Author's Note:**

> I was working on a Darcy story, but it's been really resisting me, so have some Tony and Happy instead while I try to figure out what's going on with Darcy.
> 
> As a heads up, on Sunday I will be headed to the motherland for two weeks to get ~ _married_ ~, then I'll be moving, so I will probably not be posting much over the next three weeks or so.  
> I promise I'm really into this story and I still have a ton of ideas and a few things pre-written for later down the timeline, so do not worry, I am not abandoning anything. Just, you know, busy with family and major life events and all that.
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://you-can-jive.tumblr.com/), where you can send me a message if you fear I've been gone too long (or if you want to chat or ask anything in general!).


End file.
